A Switch in Time
by WDW
Summary: Rin gets rescued, not by her teammates, but by two mysterious, strangely familiar men. Written for yangires. Warnings for unexplained time travel and a possible time paradox.


**Rating**: T

**Summary:** Rin is confused. Who are the two men who rescued her from the Iwa shinobi? And... why do they look so familiar...?

**Author's Note:** Might end up having two parts, with the other side of the story. Written for yangires for being my 200th reviewer for OEA (o: Warning: Does not have an actual explanation for time travel.

* * *

One moment, she was in the genjutsu world, every fiber of her being screaming at her to end the pain, to do anything as long as she could just stop _hurting-_

_-_and the next, she was propped up against the cool wall of the cave, hands bound behind her back. Rin let out a breathe of relief. She hadn't given anything away. She wasn't a traitor.

Then, a sudden rush of bewilderment. Why was she free then? She hadn't given away information, but she knew deep inside that she would have cracked eventually. So why had they lifted the genjutsu?

_You're useless to them_, cackled her subconscious. _They don't need you alive anymore._

_S_he thrashed in her bonds wildly. Rin knew she didn't stand much of a chance against her enemy, especially with her being physically bound and completely chakra exhausted. But there was no way she would just give up without a fight.

And then, a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down," said a deep voice. "I'm not going to hurt you." A pause. "If I take off your blindfold, do you promise not to attack us? Nod if yes."

She nodded once - what were promises to a shinobi anyways? - and the cloth was removed from her eyes. The cave was dark already, so it didn't take her long to accustom herself to her surroundings.

There were two men there. She squinted, trying to make out their features and, more importantly, the symbols on their headbands, then outright stared. "Kakashi?" Rin gasped, leaning forward in a vain attempt to confirm her suspicions. "Is that you?"

The man grew still, and then walked forward so she could see him better. It wasn't Kakashi, she realized. He was older and taller, even though his face was covered by a similar face mask. Their hair was the same though. _Everyone looks alike if you cover three quarters of their face, _she rationalized to herself. Just because the shinobi had a fashion sense similar to her teammate didn't mean he _was_ him.

His headband, however... "You're not of Konoha," she said out loud. He didn't belong to one of the major villages, that was for sure. Instead of the symbol for rain, or for rocks, or for any other symbol that designated the strongest villages in Fire Country, he bore a... she squinted. It looked like a word, which was absurd. No village had ever used a _word_ as the symbol for themselves.

"I am, actually," the man responded. "But we don't have any time for explanations right now. We need to get out of this cave as quickly as possible - it will start to cave in minutes." He sighed. "What I said was true. We're not going to hurt you - we just want you out off here safe. No questions," he snapped again, seeing the questioning look on her face.

She shut her mouth. Who was she to look a gift horse in the mouth? Her own team was probably already completing their mission and there was no way she could get out of here on her own.

Rin stretched her cramped arms. She eyed them warily. "...If you two did anything to my teammates..."

"Your teammates are fine," drawled a baritone voice, somewhere further in the darkness. "They're waiting for you outside."

She stared. In his purple robes and headband, the man looked less like a shinobi and more like an actor who had just walked off the set of a historical play. But what truly caught her attention were his _eyes_.

One was a Sharingan, which was already suspicious. Sharingan meant Uchiha, and the Uchiha Clan were of Konoha. And yet, this man did not wear a hitai-ate at all, let alone one that indicated his allegiance to the village. Furthermore, the pattern in his eye was simply not possible. Obito had told her about his clan's doujutsu and how they ranged from one tomoe to three and yet, this man's Sharingan was none of those. It was a pinwheel, black on crimson.

Perhaps it wasn't a Sharingan? But the similarities were too jarring for it to be a simple coincidence.

The other, however... Rin knew about the mythical Rinnegan and how it was just that - a myth. The last, and only, reported sighting was in the sockets of the Sage of Six Paths, whose existence was never certain. Either way, it hadn't been seen in centuries - and for it to appear in the possession of a strange scarred man...

"Who _are_ you two?" She demanded, "Your eyes - How did you -"

"You can call me Tobi," the man replied, a slight amusement in his mismatched eyes. "I'm afraid my eyes aren't up for discussion. What's more important is you getting out of here. Now."

"I suppose you should call me Inu, then," added the silver-haired man, "seeing how we're going by old monikers now, _Tobi_."

Rin hastily revised her initial impressions of the two. Whoever these two were, they were definitely not friendly with each other.

She still had her questions. The names she had been given were obviously false. She had no clue how Tobi had not one, but _two_ legendary doujutsu in his possession. And, foremost in her thoughts, why had they come to rescue _her_? Rin had never seen them before in her life.

"You two weren't who I was expecting," a voice remarked from behind her. Rin recognized it, with a shudder, as that of her captor. "But either way, I can't let you two take the girl. We're not quite done with her. Look, give her up without a fight, and I'll give you two five minutes head start."

"...No. I think not." Rin snuck a look at Tobi's face, and was surprised to see it twisted with complete and utter rage. "You'll never lay another hand on her." And with that, he disappeared.

Rin blinked. Wait, what? He hadn't even formed any seals and the technique he used was one she had never seen before - it was like he simply swirled into nonexistence.

"The hell did he go?" Her captor blinked in confusion. "Ah, well, just makes it ea-" He made a strangled, gurgling sound as blood spewed out of the opened gash in his throat, then fell onto the ground with a thump, leaving only Tobi standing behind him, an impassive look on his face. The man dropped the bloody kunai with what seemed like distaste.

"Seems a bit anti-climatic," said Inu, "I thought you tended to go for gorier methods?"

"He got what he deserved," Tobi said, "and he died like the trash he was."

Rin tried not to show her confusion. That was when she heard the sound - a wet, chuckling sound, like someone trying to laugh through a mouthful of blood. The Iwa nin was twitching, a deranged grin on his face and throat opened to the bone, and yet, his fingers were weakly shaping themselves into seals.

"Impossible," spat Tobi. "That was a fatal wound - I made _sure_ of it -"

"The past harmonizes," Inu said, a serious look on his face. "He caused the cave-in in our timeline. In this one, he survived just long enough to do it again. We need to get out of here."

Rin wondered briefly just _how_ they knew what technique her captor had used, but the rock that slammed into the ground in front of her jarred her out of those thoughts. Tobi cursed and grabbed her arm with a black gloved hand, yanking her along as he ran.

Getting out of the cave was almost too easy; strangely enough, both Tobi and Inu seemed to possess an uncanny knowledge as to just where to run in order to avoid the boulders as they crashed down around them. Then she had stumbled on a stone and found herself sprawled on the ground, growing increasingly aware of a whistling sound and a growing shadow around her body-

"_Rin!_"

-and then she was pushed out of the way as dust and rock filled the air, sent careening up by the huge boulder that had just slammed home onto the ground. She clenched her eyes closed and covered her head, waiting for it to be over. There was an eerie silence, broken by a curse.

"Shit," she heard Inu mutter. Then, "Give me a kunai," from Tobi. Inwardly, Rin breathed out a sigh of relief. She might have only known them for less than an hour, but she didn't want either of them to die. She owed them, after all - they had come to rescue her, hadn't they?

Only, Tobi was much more injured than his tone of voice had lead her to believe. Rin's breath hitched when she saw how his entire right arm was crushed underneath the boulder.

"You dobe," Inu said, "why didn't you use Kamui?"

Tobi rolled his eyes. "I didn't exactly have the time, _teme_. Now, give me a kunai. Or a sword, if you have one on hand. I find that it's easier to cut off appendages with a sword than a kunai."

Rin blinked. This situation was completely and utterly absurd. Of all the things she had expected to happen, seeing two grown men bicker like her adolescent teammates was near the very bottom of the list. "Tobi," she managed, "you do know that your entire right arm is crushed, right?"

The man stared. "Yes," he said slowly and, in some vain attempt to comfort her, told her, "Don't worry. It'll grow back."

She was speechless. Was he insane?

Inu sighed, and handed Tobi a kunai. "I don't want this back. Just keep it." The scarred man nodded, gingerly took the kunai, and began sawing into his right shoulder. Rin stared in disgust and horror, but the man didn't even seem to feel the pain.

...That was _not_ blood. She paled as Tobi's arm came off with surprising ease and much less gore than she had expected. Instead of blood and flesh, there was a strange white substance that oozed onto the cave ground.

Tobi got up slowly, gave his stump an appraising look, and turned back to them. "Three minutes, tops." Rin realized with horror that the white substance oozing from his stump was now shifting and morphing into - she turned her eyes away hurriedly. She knew that she did _not_ want to see this.

Luckily, the boulder had left a huge gap in the cave ceiling to the surface. Unluckily, there were enemy shinobi up there too - dozens of them, if what Rin heard was correct.

"I'll handle it," said Inu, and leaped out of the cave. Immediately, the sound of battle began, and so did another noise - the sound of chirping birds, which reminded Rin of Kakashi's new technique. Chidori, which Sensei had said was a perfectly fine technique, other than the fact Kakashi would be left vulnerable to attack when he was using it.

...But only Kakashi knew that technique, right? Then why was Inu able to use it - and successfully, no less? Rin stared at Tobi in contemplation; the man was inspecting his new arm gingerly. "Twice in one day," she heard him mutter.

There was no way, right? But today had already been such a crazy day, this wouldn't be much of a shock anyways. Inu and Tobi's features couldn't be just a coincidence. The fact that Tobi knew her name without her giving it couldn't be just a coincidence.

"Come out. I'm done," called Inu from outside.

The outside was littered with bodies, all with some kind of electrical burn on their bodies. Some, Rin observed, had holes through the heart.

"Is there time for explanations now?" She asked. "Or can you just tell me how you two got here in the first place, Obito? Kakashi?" Rin could almost see the exact moment their brain processed her words. It was glorious.

"Rin, how did you -" Inu spluttered, his one eye wide.

"I'm not that oblivious," she said. "Come on, Tobi? Obito? Really? You literally rearranged the syllables in your name. And Kakashi, you look almost exactly the same, but older. You have nin dogs. It wasn't that hard of a connection to make." Rin paused. "You two... are from the future, right? Or something like that. But if you two are here, where are _my_ teammates?"

Tobi and Inu shared a look. "...Probably in our time," said Inu finally.

Rin blinked. "I don't want to know what kind of place you two came from," she said at last, because she _didn't_. She wanted no part in an universe where her best friend could slit someone's throat in cold blood... and she really didn't want to know how Obito got the Rinnegan. She had the sneaking suspicion that was one of the things she would be happier off not knowing. "And no offense, I don't want to live in it either. What do I have to do?"

"We should have done enough already to change the timeline," said Tobi. "But.. Rin, stay away from Kiri nin."

"Also," Inu added, "if you ever get a demon sealed inside of you, stay away from my Chidori." Tobi gave him a glare.

Rin opened her mouth, then closed it again. "...You know what, I don't think I want to know." She walked forward a few steps, careful not to step in any puddles of gore, and enclosed Tobi - no, Obito - in a tight hug. He froze.

"You've changed, Obito-kun," she whispered, "but I like to think that the Obito-kun I know is still there, somewhere. You still remember what I've told you, right? Don't hide your wounds. Even if I'm not there in your time..." She, unlike some people she knew, could put two and two together. "I'm still looking after you."

She let go of him slowly. He had a blank expression on his face. Rin turned toward Inu - no, Kakashi - and said, "Take care of Obito, alright? Make sure he doesn't anything stupid."

Kakashi and Obito exchanged a look. "Shut up," said Obito.

Was it just her, or was her surroundings getting lighter? Rin squinted her eyes. "Are you two...?"

Kakashi nodded. "This was how we got here in the first place. I'm guessing we're going back now." He paused. "I've missed you, Rin. We've both missed you."

She smiled weakly at that. "...Any last hints you want to give me about the future?"

"...Obito has a huge crush on you," said Kakashi.

"Er," said Rin.

Obito's Rinnegan eye twitched. "Kakashi, you total _bastard-_"

And there was a flash of light, during which Rin screwed her eyes tightly - she didn't want to blinded - and hoped for the best.

* * *

"Woah," said a much higher, much more familiar voice. "That was a _rush_." A pause. "_Rin?_"

She opened her eyes warily. "Obito?" Rin asked, but it was a pretty stupid question. Both Obito and Kakashi were standing in front of her - _her_ Obito and Kakashi, much to her relief.

"H-How did you get away from the Iwa nin?" He spluttered, running up to her. "D-Did they hurt you?" It was at that moment that he noticed the dead bodies laying around, and turned a rather unique shade of pale green.

"I had help," she replied, "and no, they didn't get the chance."

"Would your help have anything to do with... the light?" Asked Kakashi, intuitive as always.

Rin decided that playing stupid was probably the better option. She wasn't looking forward to telling her teammates about their futures - at least, the parts they haven't seen in their excursion into the future. "Nope," she said.

"Rin," Obito said giddily, "you _won't_ believe what just happened - Kakashi and I were in this weird place but then we escaped and then we saw Sensei but he was a zombie or something, his skin was coming off for some reason and he was really surprised to see us. There was a mini-Sensei too, but he kept yelling at me for no reason and freaking out over Kakashi-teme." He paused and took a breath. "There were a _lot_ of zombies - I think there was a guy dressed up as Uchiha Madara too, but he kept shouting at me _too_ so I just ignored him and he got pissed so -"

"Obito," said Kakashi, "stop." He turned his gaze onto Rin. "We need to get out of here. The Iwa nin might have reinforcements, but since your _help _is no longer here, we won't stand a chance. Do you know anyway to get Sensei here, and quickly?"

"Kakashi," Rin said slowly, "do you still have the weirdly shaped kunai Sensei gave you for your jounin present?" He nodded. "Throw it."

A minute and a very confused Minato Namikaze later, Team Minato was reunited. "Seriously, guys," said Sensei, "tell me what really happened. I'm going to have to fill out a lot of paperwork if all these dead Iwa nin don't get explained."

"Well," began Kakashi, "it all started with a flash of light -"

* * *

**A/N: How did this switch from serious to humor... Dammit. Well, I really don't want to rewrite this and my brain is pretty much fried, seeing how it's already midnight. Hope you enjoyed, yangires! (:**


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